YB DATO’ SERI MOHAMED NAZRI TAN SRI ABDUL AZIZ

MINISTER OF TOURISM AND CULTURE, MALAYSIA

PRESS CONFERENCE

IN CONJUNCTION WITH

THE ARABIAN TRAVEL MARKET 2015

DUBAI WORLD TRADE CENTRE, DUBAI, UAE

4 MAY 2015, MONDAY, 3.30 PM

Members of the Media,

Ladies and gentlemen.

1. Good afternoon. On behalf of the Ministry of Tourism and Culture Malaysia and members of the Malaysian delegation, I would like to thank all of you for your presence today.

2. We are delighted to take part in the Arabian Travel Market (ATM) once again. This ATM marks the 22nd year of our participation since the event was inaugurated in 1994.

3. The Malaysian delegation consists of a well-rounded and extensive representation of Malaysia’s tourism industry. We have with us a total of 142 participants from 85 organisations, comprising local tourism boards, hotels, agents, as well as product owners.

4. We are looking forward to promote our Malaysia Year of Festivals (MyFest) 2015 campaign at this year’s ATM, as well as striving to strengthen our position in this market.

5. We are proud to unveil some of our latest attractions and we will continue to promote our flagship tourism products, which West Asian travellers love.

6. In terms of shopping, we are offering you our latest shopping malls called the IOI City Mall in Putrajaya and the Quill City Mall in Bukit Bintang, Kuala Lumpur. The best feature of the IOI City Mall is its Olympic size skating rink, as well as an indoor sports and recreation themed action adventure park called “District21”. The main attraction at the Quill City Mall is its sky alfresco dining area, which is the first of its kind in Kuala Lumpur. The dining area has an organically shaped roof consisting of multi-coloured glass, and opaque panels that allow for maximum daylight and fantastic views of the surrounding area.

7. Meanwhile, when the Mitsui Outlet Park KLIA is open to the public this year, it will be the largest factory outlet shopping mall in Southeast Asia. There will be 140 outlets of luxury products, fashion, sporting and outdoor goods, a Japanese specialty store, entertainment centre, and an amusement park.

8. Come 2016, Resorts World Genting will open its doors to the much-anticipated 20th Century Fox World outdoor theme park. It will consist of unique creative concepts featuring more than 25 rides and attractions of a cinematic nature on 25 acres of land. Visitors will be fascinated by the attractions there, which include action, adventure, animation and sci-fi genres. It also incorporates spectacular special effects from top movies such as Titanic, Ice Age, Rio, Night at the Museum and Alien vs Predator, to name a few.

9. This is the latest in the series of theme parks that Malaysia has to offer, which complements established favourites such as Legoland, which is Asia’s first Legoland; Sanrio Hello Kitty Town, and KidZania.

10. In terms of new luxury hotels, we are set to welcome the opening of St. Regis and The Regent this year. W Hotels is scheduled to open in 2016, Four Seasons Place KL in 2017, while the 7-star Harrods Hotel is expected to open in 2018.

11. The Harrods Hotel is a joint development involving Qatar Holding LLC worth RM2 billion. The hotel, which will be located on a 2.21-hectare land between Jalan Raja Chulan and Jalan Conlay in Kuala Lumpur, will be among the first three Harrods Hotel to be built in the world.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

12. The West Asian market has always been very important to us. Last year, we received about 354,000 tourists from West Asia, registering a hike of 9.1 percent compared to 2013.

13. This year, in conjunction with the celebration of Malaysia Year of Festivals (MyFest) 2015, we aim to have 29.4 million tourist arrivals and RM89 billion in tourist receipts, leading up to our ultimate goal of 36 million tourists and RM168 billion in receipts by 2020.

14. With your support and assistance, I believe we will be able to reach our goal. I would like to take this opportunity to extend my gratitude to the West Asian travel trade players and media for supporting our promotional efforts here.

15. I hope that we can continue to work together closely to achieve a great performance this year.

Thank you.